In keeping with its demure, diminutive demeanour, the 125cc Suzuki Zeus’ year-long term in the OD Garage, has rolled by almost un-noticed. In character too has been the Zeus’ almost zero-error work-a-day functioning. Now, with just a farewell portrait photo shoot to go, all that has gone amiss are a dislodged and fallen-off right indicator shell, besides the horn whose beep is muted by switching on of the indicators.
The meagre cumulative mileage is in part to be blamed on a couple of months’ inaction owing to a battery-replacement trial - and of course my own lack of initiative in turning Zeus loose on longer kilometre-crunching journeys. However, on the ride to Sinhagad or on any one-off sorties on highways, the Zeus kept pace with larger two-wheeled siblings, with nary a whimper.
Its smooth working is the first virtue to register. Nearly 5,500km after, i have to add ‘reliable, glitch-free, compliant’ to its roster - that elevate the Zeus to near bullet-proof status as city commuter. Engine-kill switch, gear indicator, fuel gauge are frills that raise its desirability quotient no end.
The Pune city monsoons mayhem Zeus came through unscathed. The battering that potholes and such have subjected the shocks and suspension to has been taken in stride. The gear shift has remained notch-free - and i have gotten to rely on engine braking in tandem with the front disc for quick-time retardation. In fact it was just once when i slowed down from 80kmph to near dead-still that i felt the rear twitch, discreetly.
How does one bad-mouth a road-mate that has given no cause for such? Well, the Zeus does nothing for me amidst hordes of the swankier, bigger bhp-spewing, in-yer-face 150cc and higher brigade. The riding position has me plonked in sunken midriff, hands and feet splayed like pension-prone crone, plunging me deeper into anonymity. And my body cells recall all the pothole and speedbreaker torment from constant bouncing and jouncing about. Neither is the lofty Zeus name any solace in traffic light drags, given its essentially sedate nature.
‘What you see is what you get’, can be altered to ‘there’s more to Zeus than meets the eye’. No pretense, the Suzuki Zeus is a scrupulously dependable city ride. That does not glug fuel either...
